Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/274

 THIRD PERIOD 254 AFFLECK CASTLE ever, appear to have been restored. They would no doubt originally be provided with embrasures, as at Balvaird, and the projecting bartizan over the entrance door would certainly be originally furnished with machicolations. The workmanship at Affleck is of the best kind, the details, although simple, being well wrought out. In particular, there is a completeness about the little oratory which makes it almost without a parallel in Scotland. FIG. 210. Affleck Castle. View from the South-West. The Auchenleck family are said to have possessed this estate from very early times, and in the reign of James i. they are designated as " Auchenlecks of that Ilk." The castle evidently dates from about the end of the fifteenth century, and continued to be inhabited till the year 1760.